Tales Of Manaburst: Let's Start at the Beginning
by NatGiratina
Summary: I never intended to become a hero... but I can't stand knowing someone's in trouble when I can stop it. So even if it crosses into other worlds... I sure as hell am not in Sparta anymore...


Tales Of Manaburst :

Let's start at the beginning

_Before one reads this, one must let go of all beliefs they had about magic, fantasy and religion, and open themselves up to all possibilities. One must learn that nothing "exists" or doesn't. All is present in the universe, but not on the same plane of existence. All have had a glimpse of this, whether they know this or not, in their dream state. Sadly, only some rare individuals are granted with the power to travel between these "dimensions". Only once one has embraced this that one may read the tale of one these endowed individuals._

Chapter 1:

Time to go

"Wake up!"

I was pushed out of bed rather roughly. It's like this every morning. My father had to wake me up to go to train with the rest of the army recruits. I didn't want to go, but it was that or he threw me off a cliff. That's how it was. Disobedience in our city was rewarded with strict consequences. Usually it's something like losing a hand, but out of all the parents in Sparta, I was stuck with a mother who died when I was young and a father who considered me more like trouble than anything else. That's probably why he was so eager for me to go off to war.

Not that I wanted to. I was okay in peace with the other big cities, and Athens( the one we were going to war against ) should have been the least of our problems. Those snobby aristocrats that led the city should be watching Rome. That place is dangerous. Sure their leader ACTS innocent, but I spoke to some merchants some time ago, and they're planning some kind of world conquest. Not that it's any of my business.

I was lying face first on the ground, hoping the old man would forget I was there. No such luck.

"I said GET UP!" he shouted while kicking me. It was painful, but after years of this abuse, I got used to it. Today though, that was gonna change. I got up, dusted myself off and looked the man in the eyes.

"Finally. Now get that smug look off your face and go to the training grounds." He didn't like it when I stood up to him. Not a lot of people in our society did. I didn't really care. I'll respect people who respect me, as for the rest, not my problem.

"I'm not going today," I said. He got angry at this. His face turned red, and his cheeks puffed up. He let the air out and said as calmly as he could: "Is that so? You finally decided to do something so stupid it would cost you your life?" See? Overly strict.

I brushed some of my odd colored hair out of my eyes. My hair is one of the reasons most kids stayed away from me when I was in school. At 9 years old, though, it becomes military training, especially in times of war like now. The other reason, I suspect, I found out not that long ago, when I was taking a drink in the lake not too far from town. I looked closely at my reflection for the first time that day. My hair was obviously not normal, being white and spiky, but then I looked at my eyes. Blazing red. And to add to the mystery, my right eye had something even more odd to it. Instead of the normal round pupil my left one had, it had a slit-like one, similar to those of cats... or reptiles.

This thought had disturbed me, and I couldn't think of why. Maybe it was because of the fact that whenever I seemed to get very angry, an odd scaly malformation spread from where my heart should be. The old man kept this a secret, otherwise he would be shunned from society. He was pretty high up there, but not one of the leaders. He thought that if that would happen, his chances of getting rid of me were as good as gone. Explanation: He would need an heir. If he needed an heir, there was no way they would risk me going to war.

Enough of the old grouch, though, time to get back to now. I looked him in the eyes again and said:

"If I don't have to deal with your ugly mug, I'll gladly end my life right now." All an act of course. I had a plan. It seemed to be working, too, 'cause he turned an even deeper shade of red and called out:

"Guards!" Almost instantly, a pair of city guards came through the door. One of them was quite tall, above the average I would say, but he was about as thick as a dry tree branch. The other one was the complete opposite: short, stubby and fat. Any other pair of guards would have stressed me out, but these ones were lazy and stupid. When the time for their shifts came up, they usually just got drunk on ale and harassed innocent girls on the street. Their presence here was all part of the plan.

"What is it, sir?" the tall one asked, rather bored looking might I add.

"My son has committed a crime worth his death," dramatized my father. He's good at that type of thing. The guards didn't ask any more questions, and the fat one turned to me:

"Come on kid, time for you to dive off a cliff."

"Sure," I answered, "Just let me get ready." Then I went up the stairs that led to the bathroom. The old codger was too unhappy with my presence to let me stay with a room.

" You'll get your own room when you move out" he'd say. He, on the other hand, lived in a room full of luxury, with a real bed, unlike mine, which was right next to the entrance and was composed of a knee-high pile of straw. I wasn't even allowed any personal belongings other than weapons.

I arrived at the top of the stairs and went into the first door on the left. When I came in, I went to the barrel near the bucket we use as a disposal system. I pulled out my clothes and boots, along with my twin daggers that I've had for as long as I remember. They were odd, and for all the years of my life i've used them, they didn't rust in any way or get scratched. They had a guard that made them look like knucklers with a foot long blade. Both of them were colored black and red, except for the blades, who had some white in addition, and the handle, which was purely white, being covered in some kind of tissue.

When I went to ask a merchant why they never got damaged, he looked at them and said he'd never seen that kind of metal before. Then he asked if I wanted to sell them to him for a large sum of money. I refused. If he would pay so much, there was a reason. I put a pair of pants on, attached the daggers and their sheaths on them, put on my sword belt, which was an odd possession, since I didn't own a sword and as I was putting on my shirt, I heard downstairs:

"You fools! He is going to DIE! What could he have to prepare!?" Gee, thanks pops.

I opened the window and looked down. I heard people fighting to climb the stairs.

"It's now or never, I guess..."

I tightened my head band, pulled a bit on the identical piece of red tissue around my lower arm, wrist and hand, and jumped.

Chapter 2:

Freedom!

As I fell, a lance was thrown at me from behind. Whoever threw it didn't aim very well, because it fell directly under me, in the gunk we had to dispose of from the bathroom. I landed on it and used the recoil from my weight to jump away from there. I landed in the streets and started running as fast as my legs could carry me. At the gates, the guard noticed me:

"Hey! What are you doing?" I tried to open the door, but quickly realized that wasn't happening anytime soon. The guard shouted his question again. I looked at him and said:

" I don't suppose you would open the gates?" He laughed.

"I'm guessing you're trying to run away from military training. You know that's worth a death penalty, right?"

He raised his 's when I figured out how to get the door open.

I climbed the tower he was standing on to get to where he was. I saw what I needed to get to: a lever.

The guard tried to thrust his lance through me, but I unsheathed one of my daggers (the one on the right, if you must know) and blocked his blow. Then, I took the other one and drove it through the haft of his weapon. The latter snapped into two pieces, and its wielder fell sprawled on the ground.

I activated the lever and the gates opened, allowing me to escape the city. I wasted no time and ran until I was out of breath.

That got me pretty far down the road, but I had to go farther. Someplace with refuge, cover.

I was standing in grassy plains. If they decided to attack me with archers, I was done for.

Then I saw it: a small house. I ran there, filled with the energy brought on by adrenaline. When I got there, a man came out and pointed a pitchfork at me.

"Who are you and why are you here?" he said angrily.

"I just need somewhere to hide from the guards of the city for a while... I need refuge, desperately," I answered.

He looked as if he would say no, when someone from inside said:

"Let him in, father. He needs help, look at him."

A young girl with very light blond hair stepped out of the house. She looked about my age, and was dressed in a simple light green dress. Seeing the state of her father's clothes, I realized they were peasants. Nothing wrong with it, I guess, but the surprising part was the quality of the girl's clothes compared to the man's. When I came in, she took a look at my clothes and said:

"My, must be a soldier. Just look at your clothes. Anybody I know would take a lot more care of their clothes unless they were used to having them damaged often." It was true, most villagers I've seen would fix their clothes if they could, since it was pretty much all they had to keep them warm. She offered to make some new clothes for me.

"You can do that?" I asked. It surprised me, although now that I thought about it, a peasant living this far from the city couldn't have paid for a dress like that. She laughed.

"Of course I can. Just tell me what you'd like" I only asked for a shirt though, since my pants weren't that bad. Just some tears at the knees. She took some measures and then started working on it. After a couple of hours, she broke the silence.

"So, since you're going to be living here for a bit, don't you think we should learn each other's names?" I hadn't thought about that.

"Yeah, I guess. My name's Nat." She smiled.

"I'm Rosalina. I can tell we're going to get along pretty well." She went back to the shirt

Chapter 3:

Lore

5 years later...

It had been five years since I started living here. That would make me 14. Rosalina was my age as well, so we got along pretty well. But it was after five years of peace away from Sparta that my life had to be messed up again. Nothing lasts forever, I guess. It all started when an object out of space hit not too far from the house. Me and Rosalina went to check it out. What we found was a bit odd. It looked like a bright yellow star, but it was small. Very small. Enough to hold in both hands. It was about the size of an average person's head. And it lived. When Rosy picked it up, it open it's eyes (which was pretty much all it had) and looked at her.

"Mama!" It said. This took me by surprise, but it seemed to fill Rosalina with joy. She looked at the damage the object had made and found a big... thing. It looked like it had a house in it, and it seemed to be source of the wreckage on the ground. The little star said that it was its "spaceship" and cried when it saw how bad it looked. For the few days that followed, we went and tried to help fix it with metal I stole from some soldiers and rich blacksmiths in the city. After four years, I was quite the accomplished thief. I probably shouldn't be proud of that, but hey, a living is a living. And it paid for a lot of stuff for our survival. It was the least I could do to pay them back for housing me. After a few weeks, though, something happened that would keep me away from Rosy for a long time. I was walking to town to get some more material, when all of a sudden, I blinked, and I was in a dark forest. I could have sworn it was sunny seconds ago... Then I saw the moon and realized that something was strange. I heard something howl, it sounded like a wolf... but bigger. And meaner. Then something was running my way. Fast. I decided I would run the other way. The footsteps were becoming louder. And more numerous. Something was wrong. I had heard of wolves before, read up on them. I knew they hunted in packs. But only desperate, starving wolves would attack humans. I figured if they were starving, they wouldn't be all that strong, so I turned around and drew my daggers, ready. Only what I saw jump from the woods wasn't a wolf pack. It was big, furry, and had razor sharp teeth. That and eyes filled with hatred. It was wearing armor, and it was standing on its two hind legs. It looked like a wolf that thought it was a man. In my confusion, I let myself be surrounded. I was done for. Then I heard:

"Hey, Kid! Get out of there!" Someone grabbed me from behind and threw me over one of the beasts, who was now dead. It had had its abdomen sliced open. When I got up, I looked at the man who had saved me, but all I saw was the glimmer of a golden battleaxe being swung around.

"RUN! Don't just stand there!" So I ran. Until I came across a village with a sign that said: "Welcome to Battleon, adventurers are welcome." I collapsed right there.

Chapter 4:

Revelations

When I awoke, I was in an inn. A man in shining silver armor and brown hair was sitting at the foot of the bed. Propped up against his chair was a shining golden battleaxe. Then I remembered what had happened.

"Rose! Where are you!" I yelled. I didn't think she would answer. I wasn't even sure she had gone to the woods. But it was worth a try. If she was here, I would know she was safe. I think. The man had saved me from the beasts, so he couldn't be all bad. Could he? When he heard me scream, he got up and looked at me.

"Relax, you're going to be fine. Now, tell me, did any of those creatures bite you or claw you?" He asked in a reassuring tone.

"I-I don't think so... what were those things?" I answered.

"Werewolves, we call them. The correct term is Lycanthrope. Now, who are you? A kid like you shouldn't have been wandering around Darkovia woods." I saw no problem in answering, especially since I had never heard of that place before.

" I'm Nat," then I remembered something I had read," Don't Lycanthropes only transform on a full moon?" He narrowed his eyes.

"You're not from here, are you kid? Anyone from all over Lore knows that in Darkovia forest, it's always a full moon." Lore? Where is that?

"You're right, I'm not from here. I'm from Sparta. If you could just tell me how to get back there, I would gladly go."

"Sparta? Never heard of it." My heart sunk. How could he not have heard of Sparta? It was the strongest military force on the planet. Something was terribly wrong. I should have guessed when I popped up in a forest with no sun and lycanthropes. This wasn't the earth I knew anymore. This was a frightening, but also an exciting thought.

"W-where am I?" I asked.

"You're in Battleon, the village of adventurers of Lore. I'm Artix, by the way, the guardian in charge of this town and also the leader of the paladins, a group that fights the undead. I can help you get used to the place, if you plan on staying." I thought about it. I could stay, but I had to get back home. I didn't know how though, that would be a problem.

"I need to get back to my home, do you think you could help?" He looked at me and said:

"No, but first we'll need to get you toughened up a bit."

So that's how I got to be trained as a rogue. That's what they called trained thieves in this place. Artix said is was because they weren't common thieves. They could fight pretty well. My trainer, Valencia, said I was above most students she's had. She was a young woman, looked about in her twenties, with long purple hair. She usually wore a vest over a white shirt, with brown leather boots and pants. She was good with knives, but I was better. When we fought, I'd win. She'd say she was taking it easy on me, but by the look of exhaustion she had every time, I knew it wasn't true. Anyway, after a couple of months, I decided to go back to that forest. Artix thought is was a bad idea, seeing as it was one of the most dangerous places in Lore. So, here I was, nobody with me. Nobody knowing where I was (I had left in the middle of the night). Armed with only a pair of daggers and steel determination to find my way home. Seemed easy, so I walked in. As soon as I did, I was assaulted by a pack of werewolves. The largest one said:

"You again!? You think that only because it's been months, that we've forgotten your intrusion on our territory? Think again. We wolves never forget a scent." This made me laugh. Most people who act high and mighty do. It makes me think they need a lesson.

"Do you remember the beatings you receive as long?" I looked at the large one's scar. It went from above his right eye to below his throat. He snarled:

" Your friend did quite a number on me. It's time to get my revenge." And he pounced. I stepped aside and tripped him. He fell sprawled on the floor. When he got up, I could swear his eyes flashed an even deeper red than before. He bared his fangs and got closer. Then he lashed out with his claws. I dodged to the right. The pack had circled around us now. By the looks of it, none of them were going to join the fight. The reason was obvious. I had insulted the alpha's honor, and he would prove he was stronger. Only thing is, he wasn't. And I was gonna prove it. I unsheathed my daggers. They glimmered in the the low moonlight.

"I guess it's time to get serious," I taunted. He growled and tried to bite me. I dodged by jumping and landing on his snout. I pushed off, landing on his shoulders, and pulled his tail, yanking out a couple hairs. I jumped off his shoulders and landed outside of the circle.

"You're not worth my time," I shouted back at him," Go back to your den, pups!" This got them all pretty pissed. They started chasing me, but I was already running. I figured if I was going to find a way home, I might as well have some fun while doing it. Running through a dark forest while getting chased by angry werewolves was part of my idea of fun. After a couple of hours of non-stop running, I started to get tired. Exhausted even. Luckily, so did they. I turned and conjured up a firewall. Warlick, the town mage of Battleon, had taught me the basics of magic. I seemed to be only capable of using fire spells, however. I turned and started running again. After another hour or so (I couldn't tell, the sun wasn't there to help me) I came across a lake, with some kind of castle built over it. The entrance was on my side of the lake. At first, I saw nothing wrong with it (I was exhausted). So I went up to the door and knocked. A woman wearing a rather revealing (It had a large amount of space for the neck, if you know what I mean) crimson dress, bright yellow eyes and what seemed to be fake wings answered very quickly. While she had sleeves, they were detached from her dress, leaving her shoulders bare. Her skin was extremely pale and she had jet black hair that went down past her waist. When she saw me, she said:

" What brings you here? It has been a long time since anyone has come close to my home, it is actually quite lonely." For some reason, her voice was reassuring, and I felt compelled to answer truthfully.

"I was running from a pack of wolves. I threw them off my trail, but I'm very exhausted... I was looking for a place to rest when I saw your home..." She smiled.

"I could offer you refuge from those nasty wolves, if you'd like." The offer was too tempting to refuse, for some reason. She led me into a large hallway, with plenty of doors leading to different rooms, but she kept going.

"Come. As exhausted as you must be, I would not want you to be disturbed by anyone or anything. Therefore I will lend you my chambers, where no one will disturb you," She said while going up the central staircase. The entire castle appeared to have its floor covered with a crimson carpet, indicating she was quite rich. Of course the sheer size of it was enough to tip anyone off. As we went deeper, I realized the walls were made of blocks of some kind of stone. The floor was clearly made of marble, but it would have been easier to tell which kind without the carpet. At some point during the walk, I realized that some bats were sleeping above us.

"Shhh... be quiet... are they not simply beautiful? They are the only ones to keep me company in this secluded place." I hadn't seen her, but she had snuck up beside me and was whispering in my ear. I was too tired to say anything, and her voice seemed to enchant me somehow. I felt the need to help her in her sadness. She stepped away and beckoned me to follow again. we went a little deeper, and eventually we reached a door that was different from the others. It had a bat carved into it and the door itself was painted bright red. The bat was painted black, and it had rubies set into its eye sockets.

"These are my private quarters. You may use them for the night." I pushed the door open after she said this. As I was setting up to sleep, I head across the door:

" Fear not if you feel movement in the night, I will maybe be joining you later. I do not wish to disturb you, so I will be quiet not to wake you." I wasn't sure I had heard right, so I didn't argue. Even if I had understood, I was using the woman's bed, who was I to contradict such a simple condition for shelter? It wouldn't have been right. Instead, I just took the daggers off my pants and set them on the table close to the door. I took a look at the room, not wanting to disturb anything, and saw that it was a bit large for the small amount of things inside. A portrait of the woman was hung on the wall to the right of the door. The table where I had put my daggers was set up against the wall opposite the portrait, and a large mirror had been set up there. Aside the bed, this was all there was to the room. The bed itself was quite impressive. It was large enough for two people to sleep in it, even though they would have to be quite close to each other. The covers were made of velvet and were the same color as the carpet. The headrest was shaped like a bat, indicating with the actual animals and the carving on the door that they were greatly appreciated here. Like the carving, rubies were set to represent the eyes of the bat. Unlike the carving on the door, the bat was gold and not black. Satisfied of my examination, I slipped under the covers and fell asleep. I dreamt of peaceful things, such as working in the fields with Rosalina's dad, or that first time I met time was similar to now, searching for refuge while being exhausted. Eventually, I woke up during the night. The woman had slipped under the covers as well. That is what had woken me. She realized this and apologized immediately.

" Please do not let my presence disturb you, I meant only to get rest." Her voice had the same effect as it had earlier, and I simply closed my eyes. I felt her move closer and place her arms protectively around me like a mother would her child. Having never had my own mother do this, I welcomed the feeling and fell asleep quickly. When I awoke, I felt strange. I couldn't move. I felt a weight on my chest, as if someone was lying on me. Then the room came into focus. I could see the woman's hair in the darkness, and I saw she was lying over me, her face hidden against my neck. I could feel her lips pressed to my throat. Then, she pushed off and went to the table. She picked up one of the daggers and came back. I saw she had blood on the side of her mouth. Not a lot, but I noticed it nonetheless. I thought she was going to kill me, but instead she came close, took the dagger and made a cut where her jugular was. Then I noticed her eyes. They revealed a soul that was older than the body would show. And they were flooded with tears. The expression in them showed she was pained, whether by the cut or emotion, I could not tell.

"Please forgive me... your blood smelled so... appealing," she whispered while exposing her bloody cut to me.

"Drink, it is the only way to save your life," she said. I did as I was told and let her press the cut against my open mouth. As I did, I saw and felt someone else's life. I quickly realized it was her's, and I guessed she was seeing mine. I learned a lot from this. Her name, her age, why she was secluded in Darkovia, what she was and why the wolves didn't disturb her. Why she had decided to save my life instead of letting me die. When she pulled back, she looked me in the eyes and said:

"Now you know why... will you forgive me?" Her voice still had an effect on me, but it was different. Like the soothing voice a mother would have, I thought. I couldn't know. " I have something most of our kind do not have. A gift you could say. It allows me to share my thoughts, my feelings and my life with the ones I transform. It is only because of a strong maternal instinct that we develop this... gift. That is something most vampires do not have. In exchange for showing you my memories, I am allowed to see yours. This reinforces the feeling of motherhood I have borne towards you since you knocked at my door..." It was true. I somehow felt... attached to her now. " Rest now, Nat, my child. I will protect you from the horrors of this land..." She placed her arms the way she had before. This made me feel safe, and I quickly fell asleep. I woke much later, and Mother (I didn't know what else to call her, and this was the most fitting word) was sitting against the headrest, caressing my hair. When she saw I was awake, she spoke:

" You do not know who or what you are, do you?" I thought about the question. I am Nat. I was turned into a vampire just hours ago. But was that really all there was to it? Apparently not. She elaborated:

" You think you were born in that city, Sparta. You believe that is your native dimension. You think you were a mere human up until hours ago. But you are not and were not. You are the last surviving half-dragon of your native land, Alagaësia." This surprised me. I had not expected any talk of dimension, or dragons. She continued:

" They were eradicated for some unknown reason the moment of your birth," She paused, " Now that you know, what will you do? To leave this dimension all you must do is think of the place you wish to go to, and channel the energy required somehow." I thought. Sure, it would be nice to go home and start living with Rosalina. But what Mother had just explained had also explained so many things about my past: the absence of a mother in the past, my right eye, my affinity for flames and the scales that appeared when I was really angry. The fact that my race was completely extinguished except for me made me that angry. I could think of only one thing right now... revenge. The scales were crawling up to my right shoulder and near my groin. Mother noticed this and tried to calm me immediately:

" Hush, now. Anger only leads to hate, and hate to more hate. You do not even know who ordered such an eradication. If you want to know, you are aware of what you must do." I did. I got up and walked to the door.

"I will go back to my native world, and I will figure out who did this." I left the castle afterwards. Once outside, I thought about where I wanted to go. Not knowing much about the place, I tried to imagine the slaughter that took my race. The image of a young girl being chased by villagers came to mind. I don't know why. Once I saw this picture, I snapped my fingers, and a portal appeared before me. I stepped inside, hoping this was the right destination.

Chapter 5:

Rescue

I looked around. What I saw baffled me. It was the same thing I had seen before entering the portal. The girl was clad in a small white dress, and she had long blond hair that went down to her knees and hid her right eye. At this distance, I couldn't see her eyes correctly, but I could see the one on the left was bright gold. She was being chased by an angry mob of villagers down a dirt road in the middle of a forest. There was a village not too far off, but it was obvious whoever lived there enjoyed peace from larger cities, due to the emplacement. I got up( I had fallen down ) and dusted myself off. I stepped out from behind a tree and looked at the girl and mob coming closer. She was obviously younger than me, but only by a couple years... maybe half my age. As she passed my tree, she noticed me. This distracted her and she tripped. She was on the floor now, and the mob was close. I stepped between them and her. When she had looked at me, I had gotten a good glimpse at her right eye. It had a slit in it, and it was pitch black. Just like mine, except for the color. The crowd of villagers stopped.

"Move, this girl has been ordered dead by the law!" The apparent leader said. He wasn't very impressive, swinging a pitchfork side to side. He was bald, and rather tall. Well built as well, but I had fought a werewolf alpha a night ago. This wasn't intimidating.

"What has she done wrong? If you have a valid reason, I let you pass," I the girl, she looked rather poor and frail. She couldn't have done something worth her death. When the man answered, he proved my thoughts correct.

"Her simple existence endangers our village. The emperor has ordered the death of all her kind, and we have sheltered her for 7 years too many. If she does not die, the village will be razed and she will die anyway." This kind of logic annoyed me.

"Why not just send her away from the village? She would be out of your hands and the emperor would have no reason to destroy your village." I could feel the scales now. They were spreading near my shoulder. I felt two bumps near my shoulder blades as well. That was odd, since I had never felt those before now. These villagers would do anything just to save their own hides. Haven't they ever heard of solidarity? Something came to mind right then. I looked at the leader.

"What if it was one of your kids? Or someone of your family? Would you hunt them down this way?" He took no time to think about it. His answer disgusted me in the highest way:

"I am sure that we would all be willing to make that sacrifice to save our community." Despicable. The bumps on my back were getting really uncomfortable against my shirt. I needed to let them out. I was going to protect this girl if it was the last thing I did. If I was going to do dangerous things to find out who slayed our race, this girl was going to survive. I took my shirt off. The villagers gasped when they saw the scales on my chest. I heard the girl gasp as well.

"W-who are you?" The leader asked. I answered:

"I'm the only other survivor of _her kind_. and I'm making sure that I don't become the only one at all." The scales spread over my right arm and both thighs. It felt good to release my strength. So I willed it to keep going. It did, and rather suddenly. The scales spread over my hand and all the way down my feet. My wristband flew off. I sprouted wings(it's a good thing I had removed my shirt) and a tail. Somehow, the latter didn't tear through my pants. I felt like a whole load of weight was taken off me. The leader charged me, and it looked like he was running in slow-motion. I took a step forward, caught the shaft of his pitchfork, then I hit it with my knee. The shaft shattered, and the man fell to the ground. Apparently, some of them had been archers or hunters, because I caught an arrow inches from my face. Another one glanced off the horn jutting out from my forehead(That's right, I had a horn). I hadn't noticed the horn earlier, but now that something had hit it, I did. I heard the wind whistle when it passed it. I would have to examine myself later. For now, those archers were posing a problem. Not to me, but to the girl. Another arrow whizzed by, and it landed by the girl, almost hitting her. Rocks started to rain. If she got one on her head, it could be deadly. I stepped back, turned and spread my wings. They would protect her from the rocks, but not against the arrows. They didn't make it through, but a few stuck themselves in the skin under the scales. Incredibly painful. I looked at the girl. She had bruises in a lot of places, and a small cut from when she tripped, but other than that, she was fine. She was crying. I tried to make a reassuring smile, but I flinched when another flurry of arrows hit me. With my left hand(which had no scales on it), I grabbed her shoulder.

"Get on my back!" I shouted. I turned, dodged an arrow or two, picked up my clothes and waited. She took a moment, but she climbed on my back, in between both wings. She put both arms around my neck. I had planned to fly, but with arrows in my wings and a passenger, that wasn't going to happen. That, and the fact that I had never done so before. So I turned to see her face and asked:

"Ready?" She nodded. I started running. Faster than ever before. It was exhilarating. At the speed I was running at, I half-expected to run into a tree or something, but with my speed, my reflexes had also increased dramatically. I ran towards some mountains I could see not far from here. There was a forest covering the whole thing, so we would be able to camouflage rather well, and we wouldn't run out of food or water. Now all we needed was to find some shelter. After a bit, I had found a well hidden cave. It was concealed by trees and bushes, so it was perfect for two fugitives. I set her down in the cave and looked at her. She looked up at my damaged wings and her eyes started tearing up. It surprised me a bit. Nobody from where I was from cried just by looking at someone.

"What's wrong?" I asked. She pointed at my wings.

"You're hurt... why did you go to all that trouble for me?" She wiped her eyes. "Nobody's ever gone to that much trouble for me before, and now some stranger saves my life... it doesn't make sense." I smiled.

"I saved you because you didn't do anything wrong. As for these injuries, they'll heal... as long as I can get the arrows out." She walked to behind me and looked closer at the arrows. Then she said:

" This might hurt a bit." She pulled on one of the arrows. It hurt a hell of a lot, but once it was out, the relief was worth it. She continued with the other arrows until they were all out. Then she climbed on my back and looked me in the eyes.

"There, that better?" she smiled, and I could see her canine tooth on the right side was sharper than the one on the left. She then looked at my eyes and scales and said:

" What kind of dragon are you? Your scales and eyes aren't the same color as mine... and I've never seen someone with red and black scales." Color? Kind? this was confusing.

"What do you mean? There are multiple types of dragons? I've never seen any others, so I don't know..." She frowned. Then smiled again, this time like she had an idea.

"I know how to tell! Have you ever done any magic?" Odd question, how could that answer her question? I answered honestly, though:

"Yeah, but I can only do fire magic."

"Perfect! You're a fire dragon, then. You see, we can all do magic, but it's especially easy for us to do magic of our element. It's called an affinity." Now it all made sense. But it also made a question emerge in my mind.

"What kind of dragon are you?" She blinked, then answered:

"I thought you'd have figured it out by yourself, but I guess since you've never seen other dragons, you couldn't. I'm a rare breed, I guess, 'cause I have two opposing elements: Light and Darkness. Of course I guess all breeds are rare breeds nowadays..." She frowned.

"Hey, if you'd like, I could take you away from this world." She looked up.

"Are you serious?" She asked.

"Of course. I could take you someplace without war or hate. As long as I figure out how." I knew how to conjure up portals, but I didn't know if it was safe for someone else to take. She laughed.

"Okay, when you figure out how, I'll definitely come. But right now, it's pretty late, and I'm tired." I looked outside. It was true, it was dark outside. I lay in the corner, and she curled up beside me, her head on my chest. I heard her mumble:

"So warm..." and she fell asleep. I thought about life as a fugitive... it had a sort of spicy appeal to it. Life would certainly never be dull. But it would probably be dangerous as well, for her. I wouldn't risk that. It wasn't my risk to take. I had to get her to safety. So I would. Sadly, I had no idea to where. Sparta wasn't a choice, since they were probably going to war against some other city, and Lore... too hostile. Anybody could get away with the murder of an orphan. And if that orphan isn't human, it would be even easier. I had to think... but I was so tired, thinking wouldn't amount to anything, so I placed a wing around her and fell asleep.

Chapter 6:

_Loga_

When I woke up, I looked outside and swore. Snow. It was all over the place. She was asleep when I had gotten up, but she was awake when I got back.

"Hey... you know, it's really cold. That's what woke me up." Cold? I didn't feel all that much shift in temperature. She looked at me, bare chest and standing without even shivering, and asked:

"How can you not feel it? Oh... right. Racial trait. Fire dragons are so hot that they heat up the air around them." That explained why I felt the same as the night before. I thought of something, then.

"I saved your life, but I don't even know your name..."

"Oh, yeah I guess that would help in cases where we would get lost or something... My name's Cynthia. My parents would say my last name is Clara Tenebris, because of my elements..." She smiled, "What's your name?"

"I'm Nat," I answered. She looked as if she was waiting for me to say something else.

"No last name?" She finally said. I shook my head. I had never really thought about it before. My parents never gave me one, not that they could have, and I was not going to use the one that rotten old man had. "I guess we'll just have to make one up then, otherwise people might get suspicious." It wasn't a bad idea, but I don't see how they wouldn't already be suspicious just by looking at me.

"How about... Ignis?" I suggested. She shook her head.

"Only our kind uses Latin as a way to find their last names, especially if you pick an element." She was right, I didn't want to be too obvious, "How about Manaburst? It matches you pretty well, I guess, and it doesn't hint too obviously at your true nature." I smiled.

"That's perfect. Thanks, now I have an actual identity." She smiled back.

"You're welcome. Now, why don't you revert back to your hidden state?"

"I can do that?" She laughed.

"Was this your first time transforming? It didn't look like it, the way you fought and controlled your added parts. All you have to do is concentrate on what you looked like before you transformed." I was going to do so, but then I remembered something. I stepped outside and picked up a handful of snow, with my left hand. I brought it into the cave and put it down on the floor. I touched it with my right hand, and it melted instantly. I could see my reflection now. The horn I had felt before was ivory white, and it curled up into my hair. The entire right side of my face was covered in scales. I looked quite frightening. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, I was back to what I used to look like. I looked at Cynthia. She was looking at my wrist.

" I was wondering where yours was..." I looked at my wrist to see the birthmark that had been there for as long as I could remember. That was the reason I wore my wristband: to avoid mockery back in Sparta. The old man(I refused to call him something he was not) had agreed with it, but only because any odd birthmark would probably bring him trouble. The birthmark was a strange serpent like shape, with the head on the back of my hand and the body spiraling down to halfway up my forearm, the whole thing ink black. That's what it had looked like the last time I saw it. Now it had grown wings at about where my wrist started. "Every one of our kind has a birthmark like that one, somewhere on their bodies. Some of us have it someplace hidden, while other ones have it out in the open." She lifted her dress a bit, so I could see her thigh. "This is where mine is." Hers wrapped itself around her thigh, its tail ending only a bit above her knee. Hers, unlike mine, had no wings.

"I meant to ask you something earlier," she said, "You had wings when you transformed, but... I don't. How did you get yours?" I thought about it.

"I don't know. This is the first time I've ever felt them. Although, I haven't gotten angry enough in the last 5 years to even come close to transforming..." She seemed to get an idea of the reason then.

"How old are you?"

"I should be... 14 by now. Why?"

"Because I'm only 7. Wings must be acquired in adolescence." She sighed. I wondered something then:

"Hey, could you... you know..." It was a bit embarrassing to ask... " Transform? I'd like to see what it looks like for you..." I smiled sheepishly. She smiled back.

"Sure, why not? After all, you saved my life, it's the least I can do." She closed her eyes, and I saw a flash of darkness and light at the same time. If I was frightening transformed, she was incredibly beautiful. Her scales were a pattern of black and gold, and unlike me, her horn wasn't completely grown in, but I could see it was a shining gold as well. I noticed she didn't have a tail or wings. Where when I transformed, I got slightly bulkier, her scales shined in the light and kept her frame looking fragile and frail. They didn't change her shape whatsoever. If anything, they gave her a graceful look. She reverted back and looked at me shyly.

"So... what do you think...?" She was a bit red in the face. I snapped out of my amazed speechless state.

"It's-you're beautiful..." She blushed "How come I don't look like that when I transform?"

"I don't know, maybe cause you're a guy." I remembered what I had to do, then.

"You wouldn't know a safe place, would you?" She thought.

"Well, maybe the elves could protect us for a bit, but it's really hard to come into contact with them. I don't know exactly where they are, but I know in general. We're in the Spine right now, so it would be... to the west of here. How fast can you get us there?" I grinned.

"How far? I could get us across this continent by nightfall, or earlier."

"Well we don't need to go that far, but It should be about half a day's running at the same speed as earlier, if you can keep that up that long." Still grinning, I answered:

" I could probably go faster for that long. Let's go." She climbed on my back, and we took off. We were supposed to cross the chain of mountains, Cynthia called it the Spine, and head for the woods as soon as we could. As I was running, she looked at the sky and assessed our latitude and longitude. It was early, so the sky was still dark and we could see the stars if we looked hard. After several minutes of examination, she spoke:

"We should cross a village soon. It's called Carvahall. We can stock up there. They're a bit wary of strangers, though, so it might be hard to bargain." A thought struck me, then.

"What's the currency, here?" She thought a bit.

" People trade things. If you have any gold coins, they are worth a lot. With only one, you could probably buy enough food for four seasons." Seasons... is that how they calculate years in this world? So four seasons... an entire year for only one gold coin. I must be rich that means, because I had over 500 in my pouch.

"Alright then, we'll be good for the trip. I have enough gold to feed us BOTH for 250 years." I couldn't see her, but I was pretty sure she was astonished. Seconds after that, an opening in the trees and smoke coming from some chimneys indicated we were arriving in Carvahall. I stopped running and let Cynthia off my back. She stepped off, and I realized she wasn't wearing anything but her small dress, which stopped at her knees. She was clearly not equipped for the weather. I beckoned her closer and we walked. I looked at my feet, also bare. I was surprised by the fact that we were standing on a dirt road, and about an inch-wide radius had no traces of snow whatsoever. We would definitely stand out like this. A small girl with a fourteen year old boy walking around with bare feet and only a dress, while the boy had only a sleeveless shirt. I figured we might as well find an alley to hide in for the night, but the houses weren't close enough for that. It really was a small village. So I found a secluded house away from the rest of them, and we lay against the wall.

" We should rest while we can. We won't be able to rest until we reach the elves in this weather. After we leave that is." I said. So she curled up on my right side and slept. I took my own advice and tried to doze off, but I couldn't, for some reason. I didn't feel the need to sleep, so I kept watch on her. When some lights began to turn on and people started to walk around in the village, I started to wake her. Then an old looking man with a long white beard and short white hair stepped out of the house we were lying on. I tried to not be seen, but my hair was a dead giveaway. He looked me over and stepped closer. Then he looked me in the eyes and seemed surprised by what he saw. He stepped back and whispered:

"Is the girl one of you?" I nodded. "Wake her and follow me," he said gravely. He disappeared around the corner, and I could only assume he had entered his home. I woke Cynthia up. She mumbled groggily:

" Huh...? We're going?"

"Get up, our cover might have been blown," I said sternly. I didn't mean to be hard on her, but this might have been urgent. She understood me and got up. Then she said:

"I thought of something: what if people thought you were my dad? It would explain us travelling together, and you look older than you really are..." It was a brilliant idea. I smiled.

"Pretty good. You're a clever girl aren't you?" She blushed. Then she took my hand and got closer. Part of the act, I guess, but it was nice. I felt a certain protective instinct towards her, almost fatherly, I guess. We went inside. It was dark, but the old man quickly lit a fire in his stone chimney. The entire place was covered in old scrolls. There were odd runes on the scrolls, and Cynthia seemed to be able to read them, since she gasped while looking at a couple of them. I heard her whisper: "These are rare scrolls..." and then she fell silent as she looked at the man. He wore a tunic with a hood and leather boots. He had a gold ring on his left hand. The ring had a sapphire set in it, and the sapphire had another rune on it. He looked at us and said:

"Well, take a seat, but be careful. Here, everything is precious." We sat in a wooden chair covered in leather for comfort, Cynthia curled up on my lap. She was doing her best to hide herself, looking at the man by the corner of her eye, her face hidden in my chest. He was sitting in a very well sculpted chair, with four talons in the place of legs and leather coussins for comfort. He looked at us and said:

"Now, who are you?" The question took me by surprise. I figured since he knew we were half-dragons, I could use that to my advantage.

"I'm Nat Ignis, and this is my daughter, Cynthia Ignis." I was hoping that he wouldn't know much about our race enough to know I was lying. No such luck.

"You're lying. Your kind name themselves with their element. The girl sitting there is not your daughter, as you are a fire dragon and she seems to be of the light dragons. Now, how about we agree to not lie to each other?" He knew a lot of our race to be able to identify our elements just by looking at our eyes. I didn't have much of a choice left. The truth it was.

"Alright... I'm Nat Manaburst. Up until yesterday, I thought I was the only living one of us left, but I rescued her from a village that was going to kill her for their own survival. We were headed for the elves in search of a safe place to hide." I sighed. If he was working for our enemies (whoever they are), I had just given our lives away. He looked at us, then closer at Cynthia.

"You have introduced yourself, but she has not. Do not worry, you may trust me." He waved his ring closer. Cynthia gasped:

"You're..." He smiled.

"That's right. Now, what is your name, little one?"

"I-I'm Cynthia... Cynthia Clara Tenebris." He looked surprised, but I couldn't be sure because it only lasted a split second.

"A composed last name... You have two elements? And two antagonist elements as well... You realize you are special, don't you girl?" He looked up to me, "You say your name is Manaburst? You were not born in Alagaësia, were you?" I shook my head, "Of course not. Otherwise you would probably be dead. I'm surprised the girl has lived this long. You say you were headed to the elves. If so, why stop in Carvahall?"

"Supplies. We only know the general location of the elves," I answered.

"No one knows of the elves location except for the Varden. And I. You were headed where?" Cynthia spoke next:

"Du Weldenvarden forest."

"Then you were headed in the right direction. But the way you were travelling, you would have been caught before you left this village. Running around barefoot in snow, did you think no one would notice? Not to mention you melt the snow while running. The soldiers would have captured or killed you a long time ago if not for your speed. Now, you already have a trail, so you must make haste. When you make it to the forest, you must speak these words," he spoke some words in a language that I had never heard, but still understood, "Only once you have done this will the elves let you get close to their lands." It made sense. Saying "I am a friend and I seek refuge" would obviously attract anyone's attention. The old man then hushed us out of his home and told us one last thing:

"The elves value respect more than most things. Be respectful. And if you ever decide to return here, know that my name is Brom." And he left to wherever it is he wanted to go. Cynthia took my hand and got slightly behind me, as if she was trying to hide from indiscreet eyes. We walked to a place that smelled strongly of meat and blood. We stepped inside and saw a small man wearing a blood stained apron. On his belt was a rather impressive collection of knives. He looked up warily.

"What do you people want?" I instinctively brushed by my own daggers. If things got bad, they might be useful.

"I'd like to buy some meat. This looks like a butcher's shop, so i'm guessing it's the right place to do so." His eyes narrowed.

"I'll sell you meat if you have money. If you don't, then I suggest you leave." Charming fellow. I took my pouch out and removed a single gold coin from it. His eyes grew wide.

"I'll take enough of your finest meat to fill up a large leather bag." He seemed surprised.

"That's it?" He regained his aggressive demeanor. "Alright." He went back to the storage room, I guessed, and the sound of hacking knives was heard. When he came back, he had a large leather bag filled to the brim with raw meat. Satisfied, I gave him the coin. I turned to the exit, Cynthia still sticking close, when he called out:

"If I may... you're travelling, am I right? Is that your daughter with you? She is very pretty." I could see Cynthia blush.

"I know, I'm very proud." And I stepped out. Something was wrong, I realized instantly. The road was deserted, except for some men in black armor. On their shoulders was an emblem representing a flame surrounded by gold thread. Cynthia gasped. I could tell that meant nothing good. Too late, they had seen us. They got closer. There were four of them. They were all armed with swords. I motioned for Cynthia to get behind me.

"Soldiers, I presume?" I whispered to her. She nodded.

"Soldiers of the emperor."

When they got near, The one in front asked:

"You wouldn't be a fugitive half-breed would you?" I was offended by that. He couldn't even respect our race enough to name it right.

"Maybe, maybe not. Depends who's asking." They were wearing helmets, so I couldn't tell their expressions.

"The emperor asks. But I'm guessing that you are, since you match the image on the posters hung around everywhere perfectly." Wanted posters. Great. He drew his sword. "Our orders were clear: Slay on sight." I drew my daggers.

"Cynthia. Stay close." It would be easier to protect her this way. The rest of them drew their swords and the first one tried to slash me, aiming for my right shoulder. I stepped back and kicked his wrist. I felt bones being crushed, and the soldier dropped his weapon. The rest of them stepped forward and surrounded us. I didn't want to kill under any circumstances, but in these conditions, I might not have a choice. The one on my right swung at my hip, while the soldier to my left attempted to take out my arm. The third one was trying to impale me with his sword. I blocked the two first hits and punched the soldier to my right's forearm, breaking it. I turned to assess when the next hit would come, but the one that was attempting to impale me was on the ground, clutching his right arm and left leg. Confused, I looked at Cynthia. She grinned.

"You're not the only one who can fight." The last one ran away before attempting anything else. Some of the villagers came out of their homes. The three downed soldiers got up and followed the other one into the woods. The villagers came closer. One of them offered us a black fur coat, obviously made for women. The coat had thicker fur lining the edges on the outside of the coat and sleeves. Around the chest, there were two oval shaped crystals, one on each side, and between them, a larger teardrop shaped crystal. The latter was hanging between both sides and was probably used to clip both sides together. The woman holding it came forward.

"This coat has magical qualities. It adjusts itself to the wearer size and repels any intensity of cold. Please, give this to your daughter, it will keep her warm." I took the coat. I turned to Cynthia and told her to turn around. I helped her out on the coat. It shined for a couple of seconds, then it was the perfect size for her. She turned, and I clipped the teardrop shaped crystal to both sides. I smiled. It looked perfect on her, complementing the color of her eyes and hair. She smiled back.

"Ok, then. We'll be leaving now to avoid bringing this village more trouble," I said as I picked Cynthia up to place her on my back. I started running towards the woods. As soon as we were out of sight from the village, I let Cynthia down and started a fire with some wood I found lying around. I looked at her.

"You must be hungry, since you haven't eaten in at least a day." She nodded. I cooked some meat that we had just bought. Once it was ready, I gave her a large piece, and took a raw one from the bag. She looked at me oddly.

"Oh, right. I forgot to mention. Ever heard of vampires?"

"Yeah, but only in stories. Blood sucking creatures of the night, right?" I laughed.

"I guess that's one way to put it. I was turned the night before I came to rescue you. I am a vampire." Her eyes widened a bit, but then she just smiled.

"That's okay. You can tell me the story while we're running later. Just know that I still respect you." That reassured me a lot. I didn't want her to think I was some blood thirsty creature."That explains why your left hand is so cold, though" I took the piece of meat and bit into it. The blood welled into my mouth, and I realized this was the first time I had drank blood. It still tasted like it would if I was to bite the inside of my cheeks too hard, but the difference now was that I enjoyed that taste. I ate the meat and waited for Cynthia to finish hers. When she did, I extinguished the flames with snow. I slung the bag over my shoulder and was about to tell Cynthia to get on my back, when a huge fireball came out of nowhere, its trajectory headed towards her. No time, I dropped the bag and transformed as quickly as I could. I placed myself between her and the projectile and waited for the pain to strike. Cynthia was frightened at first, then she saw me between her and the fireball and her eyes started filling themselves with tears. I felt the impact of the fireball, and fell to my knees from the sheer force of it. The pain in my wings where the arrows had stuck themselves vanished, and I felt invigorated. Confused, I got up and looked at myself. My shirt was in shreds, two huge holes were my wings had come out and flames that had caught from the attack. Cynthia looked at me and cried. I could see she was laughing at the same time, so I guess she was relieved. Then I realized that this must have been done by someone near. I looked around and shouted:

"Show yourself!" A man with long crimson hair stepped out of the shadows. He wore leather armor and a sand colored cape. He had a long sword on his belt, and closer inspection revealed a thin scratch going down the middle of it. He also had a large pouch on his belt, its contents a mystery. His face looked like someone had stretched skin on a skull or something of the like, and his eyes were a deep purple. He laughed, and I could see his canines were extremely sharp.

"Imagine this: I was bringing an important object to the emperor when I received urgent orders to slay two half-breeds as soon as I see them. By the lack of snow and clothing around you, I guessed you were them. It appears I was right." He laughed again. The sound of him irritated me, and I lunged with my right hand, aiming for his face. He blocked with his left hand, catching me, and threw me over his shoulder. I flipped and landed on my feet. He didn't turn and, instead, attacked Cynthia by drawing his sword and slashing, seemingly aiming for her neck. He was trying to behead her! I was too far for his speed to stop him. Cynthia stepped back, and the sword only slashed her cheek. She winced, but other than that she was fine. He swung again, but I was there this time. I caught the sword with my right hand, and it cut into my palm. Enduring, I swung my left fist at his face. He caught it with his free hand. Cynthia jumped over me and kicked him in the face. He flew back against a tree and snarled. I smiled. Cynthia did know how to fight pretty well. She jumped backwards, flipping, and landed on my shoulders.

"Trust me, this position works well. Just crouch forward a bit, and spread your wings," She said. I did, since she probably knew better than me on half-dragon fighting. "This way, if he tries to cast a spell, I can stop him, and you can focus on physical fighting." Spells hadn't occurred to me, so it was a good thing she was there to remind me about them. The man got off the tree.

"You two are more trouble than I gave you credit for." He stepped forward until I was in swords reach and slashed from side to side. I ducked and Cynthia jumped. Then I stuck out my leg and spun, tripping him. Cynthia landed on top of him and broke his neck by striking with her palm. It was over then, he stopped moving.

"You killed him?" I was perplexed.

"I'm sorry... he was going to kill us... and..." she stopped, "I'm sorry"

"That's okay, we didn't have much of a choice," I realized she was crying, "What's wrong?" She sniffed.

"I didn't want to kill him, I just didn't have a choice, and he had hurt you... I was so afraid when you took that fireball, I thought you were going to die..." She ran at me and hugged me tightly. I was surprised.

"The entire reason I took the fireball was to protect you... I couldn't let you die." She cried harder.

"Come on, we've got to go." I checked the man's pulse to see if he was really dead, and his heart had indeed stopped. I was going to revert and have her get on my back, but I felt something calling out to me. I looked around and realized it was coming from the man's pouch. I opened it and found a red and black stone... it was like nothing I had never seen, and I knew It was supposed to be mine. I don't know how, but I knew. I showed the stone to Cynthia, and she gasped.

"That... that couldn't be... You just found one of the last dragon eggs in Alagaësia! Do you have any idea what that means? It means you could have just saved all of us from Galbatorix! Other than this one, there is only one that he doesn't possess, and the Varden have it. Only thing is, it refuses to hatch for anyone." What was so important about a dragon egg?

"Well, this one is mine... I feel it calling to me. I'm not giving it to anyone." Her eyes widened

"Its calling to you? That means... you're destined to be a dragon rider! That is so cool! I can't believe it, my dad, a dragon rider!"

She had said "her dad" so freely it surprised me. Did she actually think of me as her father? If so, it made me happy. I felt like she was my daughter in a way. I hadn't lied to the butcher. I was proud of her. She was incredibly intelligent and knew how to defend herself. But... I won't be able to take care of her forever. I would have to leave her at some point... but seeing her happy face now, I wouldn't tell her. It would ruin the moment. So instead I beckoned her to climb on my back. She did, and she put her arms around my neck. I started running. The rest of the trip happened without further incident, and we made it to the forest by noon. When we were sufficiently deep, we stopped and I assessed the situation. We were the two last remaining half-dragons of Alagaësia. We were fugitives from the empire. We were in an unexplored forest searching for a race that rarely spoke to humans. We had found a dragon egg, and Cynthia was sure I was destined to be a dragon rider, whatever that is, but she thought it was a good thing, so I guess it mustn't be bad. I decided it was time. I spoke the words I was instructed to. I waited. Minutes later, I saw a patrol of men coming towards us. There were three, and they all shared two points in common. Their ears were pointed at the tips and they all had odd cat-like eyes. The lead one had blonde hair that went down to his waist and the other two might have been twins, with identical brown hair reaching their chins. They all wore light armor, but I couldn't tell what is was made of. The blonde came up and asked in the same language I had just spoken:

"Who are you, and how did you know exactly what to say and where?" I was about to answer in plain english, when Cynthia answered instead, also speaking that odd language.

"We are the last survivors of our race, and an old man told us of this place and taught us what to say. We are here seeking refuge from the emperor's forces." She brushed her hair out of her face, revealing her right eye. The elf didn't flinch at the sight of this, but said:

"Very well. I am willing to take you to Ellesméra." He turned and beckoned us to follow him. Cynthia climbed on my back and we did. We arrived in a beautiful place(I couldn't tell if it was a town, a village or a city) where nature and the inhabitants of the place were as one. The homes were integrated into trees. Animals walked around freely, and no one did anything about it. It was an enchanting sight, but we kept going to the center of the area. There we found a tall pine tree... with a door in it. The tree was huge. It had to be at least half a mile in diameter and I the top was so high I couldn't see it. We stepped inside, and the inside was even more surprising than outside. Inside the tree, there were even more trees, their hundreds of branches forming the ceiling. The place looked like a throne room surrounded by twenty-four seats, twelve on each side. These seats were empty, but the throne was occupied. The throne was made of tree roots and it was standing on a dais. Sitting on it was a majestic and proud looking elven woman. She had hair as black as night that was held up by a diamond diadem. Her lips were the reddest I'd ever seen. She was wearing a splendid red dress and a heavy cape that spread itself on the floor. She held a staff with a white crow perching on it. When she saw us, she rose. Around us, the three elves knelt. I figured I might as well do the same, so Cynthia and I knelt.

"You may rise," Everyone here speaks the same language. We did and she looked at me, "You must be the oldest one, seeing your size and birthmark. I looked at my arm and realized I hadn't put my wristband back on after the fight with that crimson haired man. In fact, I didn't remember picking it up. My headband either, come to think of it. The queen(I figured she was queen because of the crown) looked at me waiting for an answer.

"Yes I am," I answered in english. Cynthia stepped forward and said in the language everyone was speaking:

"He is the oldest, but he does not speak the ancient language, so I will be speaking for us if it does not pose problems," She turned and smiled. Always the clever one, she was. She turned back to the queen.

"I do not see it as a problem, granted he does not mind." She looked at me, and I realized I was the one she was talking about.

"Huh? Oh, no, I don't mind. I just don't get the reason we have to speak this language." The elves seemed surprised. The queen answered calmly:

"It is a question of security. In the ancient language, one cannot lie." A language that prevents lies... interesting.

"Alright, I'll let her do the talking. She will probably do a better job at it than me," Cynthia smiled shyly.I could swear she was blushing. The queen spoke:

"Now that that is cleared out, I will ask my men to leave the room." The three elves who brought us here left. "Now, why exactly are you here?" She asked. Cynthia answered:

"We were looking for a place to hide from the emperor."

"Of course since he seems to want your entire race dead. But, how is it that a young one like you know the ancient language but not him? And, if I recall, the slaughter was fourteen years ago. However, you seem younger than that. How would that be possible?" That last question was a good one, and I couldn't believe I hadn't thought of it before. The answer surprised me even more:

"The reason for my young age is because my mother had cast a spell on herself to make my birth later. Seven years later to be exact. She lived in a village that the empire had no interest in, and fourteen years ago, they didn't come there. Only yesterday did they visit and notice my existence. My mother died at childbirth, given that the spell's price was her life. The village mage taught me of the ancient language when I was young, but..." She seemed on the verge of tears, "He died protecting me from the villagers when they decided the village was more important than my race's life." She stopped, tears streaking down her face. I noticed then that her right eye was still covered by her hair. I also saw she was wearing my headband under it, and looked at her wrist. She was wearing the wristband. I smiled. She had picked them up. The queen spoke:

"I see... and the boy's lack of knowledge of this language is explained how?"

"He was born Alagaësian, but was raised in a different world." The queen blinked, seeming surprised for as long as the old man did. Then she said:

"I see, in that case, that might be the only way for you two to survive: to go to another world. As soon as a sword is forged for both of you. The sword will represent your elements. You each know your elements, correct?" We nodded. "Then I ask that you tell us the elements, so that we may forge the swords correspondingly." Cynthia hesitated, then said:

"His element is fire. I am Cynthia Clara Tenebris." She moved her hair out of her face and showed her eyes. The queen gasped.

"Two elements. Very rare. You must therefore have two swords. You are dismissed. Rhunön lives not far from here, and you know how to recognize a blacksmith's workshop." We left, and Cynthia took the lead. Once out of the tree, she asked:

"You don't mind me wearing your things, do you?" I laughed.

"Of course I don't. Just remember: I'll need the wristband when we go into a village or town." She nodded. We kept going until she spotted a workshop. We went towards it and knocked on the door. An old looking elf answered. She looked at us angrily.

"What do you want? You are no elves." Cynthia answered.

"The queen has instructed us to come get swords forged here..." The woman sighed.

"Why would she do such a thing? She knows I have sworn forging swords off forever..." I whispered to Cynthia:

"Tell her I'm pretty good at forging swords." She nodded.

"My friend says he can forge swords well. If the problem is that you can't forge, maybe he can?" The woman smiled.

"Clever idea. I believe I have enough brightsteel left for two or three swords." She led us inside.

"You may use my workshop. How much material do you need?" Cynthia answered:

"Enough for three swords." The woman went into another room and brought back some odd ore. It emanated energy. She looked at me and asked:

"You plan on fighting with three swords?" I shook my head. Cynthia specified:

"Two of them are for me." The woman shook her head in a disappointed manner.

"Arming children, ridiculous. Now, why do you require swords?"

"The queen said that we needed to have swords forged for us before leaving into another world. We are half-dragons, the last of our kind, so she said the swords would represent our elements." The woman looked at Cynthia curiously.

"You have two elements, that means. Alright, I'll let you get to work." I stepped up to the ore and separated it into three piles. I didn't know what kind of swords to make for Cynthia, so I turned around and asked:

"Have you ever forged a sword?" She shook her head.

"No, but I can learn from watching you." She smiled. Again with the brilliant ideas. I smiled back.

"Then let's get cooking. But first, what kind of sword do you use?" She thought about it, then shrugged.

"I've got a way to figure it out then, I guess." I picked up two sticks outside, then came back in and gave her one.

"Here, fight." And I lunged at her with mine. She blocked, stepped back to disengage and slashed (as far as slashing goes with a stick), from left to right, at my hip. I noticed something, then: she had instinctively slashed with her second hand, even though it was empty. I stopped the fight.

"Perfect," I said. She was surprised.

"That's it? One attack?" I laughed.

"That's all I needed. The way you fight, you need two swords, just like the queen said, so the swords will have to be one-handed." I went back to the ore. I didn't know what kind of sword I needed, but I figured I'd let my instincts tell me. So I made the pile of ore for my sword larger than the two others, and started working on it. While I was working on it, Cynthia watched me intently. She asked a couple of questions, and I did my best to answer them. I wasn't that good a teacher. When it was time to let the sword cool, I decided we may as well get some lunch. I pulled the bag of meat out and made a bit of fire appear in my hand. Cynthia cooked her meat over the flame and I had some more of the raw stuff. When we were done, the sword hadn't finished cooling. Cynthia suggested I use my control over fire to sap the heat from it. And it worked. Another point for Cynthia, which made... a lot. Now I held my blade up, and could see I was more than just "pretty good". Without knowing it, I had forged a black and red colored sword that was the most beautiful blade useful in combat I had ever seen. The handle itself was like nothing I'd ever laid eyes on: It was made from the same metal as the rest of the blade, but on it was a dragon that had spread its wings. The wings themselves formed the guard, which was long enough to go from the bottom of the handle to the intersection where the handle became the blade. The dragon was placed in a way that its head was on the beginning of the blade and its tail reached the bottom of the handle and spiraled as if it was meant to hold something. The swords colors of black and red made a spiral motif on the sword, as if they were trying to merge. Rhunön came back then, and looked at the sword.

"Amazing, simply amazing. You seem to be a very good smith. Ever thought about that? Either way, I suppose that since you will be leaving this world soon, it doesn't matter. So, now it is your turn, little one." She said to Cynthia. Cynthia nodded and picked up the ore I had left her. She set them on the working table and started shaping them with the ön beckoned for me to follow her. I did, and she brought me to another room where precious gems were sitting on a table. She told me to pick one, which I did. A dark ruby, it was perfectly round and somehow, I felt it was the one I was supposed to pick. I asked Rhunön why I had to pick a gem, and she said that all the swords she made had a gem in it. The reason was: gems had the capacity to contain energy, and this energy could be used in combat instead of ones own for magic. So that was why the sword looked like it was meant to hold something on the handle. I put the gem in, and the dragons tail wrapped itself around it. The dragons eyes flashed then, and the sword seemed to come alive. I heard a word in my head: _Loga_. Why did the word "Blaze" just sound in my head? No idea.

"After the gem, there's only one last thing to give your sword: a name." Rhunön said. That was what that was. The sword had given me its name.

"My swords name is... Loga" As soon as I had pronounced that word, the sword burst into black and red flames.

Chapter 7:

Safety

When I came back to the working room, Cynthia was waiting for the swords to cool down. When she saw me, she smiled.

"Think you can cool them down? I can't handle heat like you." I smiled back.

"Sure." I cooled them down. She picked them up and looked at them. One was the same bright gold as her left eye, while the other one was the same pitch black as her right eye. The gold one had a black sun on the intersection between the blade and hilt, where the black one had a gold crescent moon in the same place. The black sword had a guard that surrounded the hilt, except for one area to place her hand. This was reminiscent of a crescent moon. The gold one had a guard similar to Loga's, except for the fact that the guard connected to the bottom of the hilt and the top of it, instead of the middle like Loga's did. The guard on that sword had odd spikes coming out of it, four on each side. This reminded me of the sun's rays. It was obvious the swords were meant to complete and balance each other. Rhunön took her to the other room to choose her gems, and when she came out, the swords each had a gem in them. The gold one had an onyx encrusted in the middle of the sun. The black one on the other hand, had a shining yellow topaz in the center of the crescent moon.

"So... what are their names?" I asked. She smiled.

"This one is Myrkr (she held up the black one) and this one is Ljós (she held up the gold one)." Light and Darkness... fitting names. They really were made to balance each other. They were complementary. Incomplete without the other. Rhunön went to get sheaths and I realize a glyph had appeared over the dragon's head on Loga. I couldn't read what it said, but I realized two glyphs had also appeared on Myrkr and Ljós. I asked Cynthia what they meant, and she said they were the names of the swords. Then she said:

"You really need to learn how to speak this language, and read it too." She was right... she wouldn't be around to help forever. "I could teach you... you know, once we're out of this world and safe." I hadn't told her yet. It hurt a bit now. I had grown attached to her, but I had to leave her in a safe place so I could come back and slay the bastard who had ordered the slaughter of our race. It would be time to tell her, before we left.

"I... I don't think that would be possible... you see..." I trailed off. Why was this so hard? It was just goodbye, nothing more. So why couldn't I say it? "I can't go with you... I have to come back here and search for the man who ordered the massacre that took place fourteen years ago. I-I have to get revenge." Her eyes teared up.

"You think you can do that with your knowledge of this place? And who said any of the people who died back then would want revenge?" She was crying now, shouting at me, "Hatred only breeds more hatred!" That hit deep. Of course, it was true, and that made it all the more hurtful.

"I-I... don't know what else to do. Its his fault you were chased out of your home and almost killed, and you're just going whoever did this get away with it?"

"Of course not! But I'm not going to let you kill him! You've never killed anybody, have you? I saw the way you fight. You fight to disable, not to kill. I-I killed that man, and I'm half your age. I feel horrible, to think that I took a man's life away... even if he did work for an enemy. It doesn't make it right..." She fell to her knees, crying to the point of no longer being able to articulate her words properly. She was right. I couldn't kill, it wasn't in my nature. Even back in Sparta, I refused to kill anyone on the battlefront. When I was training, I only disabled the dummies, no mortal wounds. Maybe that was why they never put me on the front lines. It was fine by me. I approached Cynthia, and attempted to console her. When she had calmed down enough, although she was still sniffling, she said:

"I'll go to wherever you want me to go, so long as you promise not to kill anyone unless you truly have to." I brought her in close and hugged her.

"I promise. If you teach me the words in the ancient language, I'll swear it." She taught me the words and I repeated the promise to her. So we went outside and I thought of a place where there was no war, where nature and people got along. I snapped my fingers and a portal opened. Cynthia stepped towards the portal, turned to me and said, still crying:

"When will I see you again, because I will, right? You have to promise that too..." She taught me the words and I repeated them.

"I don't know when. But at least you'll always have a piece of me with you." She seemed perplexed. I pointed at the coat she was wearing. "If you ever miss me, just think of how you got that, or the headband you're still wearing(she had given me my wristband back, but kept the headband). And remember: always do your best at whatever you're doing. Promise me that, and keep that promise. That way I'll be sure that I can be proud of you, no matter what happens. After all, I am your father." She smiled through her tears.

"I promise to always do my best," she said in the ancient language. Then she stepped through the portal. That was it. I wouldn't see her again for a really long time. This world is really messed up. I bet it isn't the only one, either. Someone needed to fix all this. I brushed Loga's hilt. Someone needed to fight for justice. Of course, to fix all the worlds, that person would have to live for a really long time. And since light only balanced darkness out, there was never going to be any permanent peace. So that someone would have to live forever. I fit all the criteria. I would be the one to fix all the worlds. But I couldn't do it alone. I would need help. With that in mind, I snapped my fingers and opened a portal to a random world. First world on my list.

**The End**

The story continues in: _Tales Of Manaburst: Let's start recruiting!_


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